July 22, 2013

National Intelligence GC Addresses Surveillance Programs

Robert Litt, the U.S. intelligence community's top lawyer, on Friday
tried to assuage concerns about the government's data gathering after
National Security Agency leaks last month, saying it's both legal and
limited.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution
in Washington, D.C., the general counsel of the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence said the government's data collecting is a
"sensible" approach to effective surveillance in the digital age. He
said the government amasses "large volumes" of user data, but it only
uses the information as part of counterterrorism efforts authorized
under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other measures.

The United States isn't "listening to everything said by the citizens
of any country" through its surveillance procedures, Litt added.